Class Assignment

I visited the Circle of Inclusion website (www.circleofinclusion.org). It is a University

of Kansas Project site for early childhood service providers and families of young children. The

site explains, “As early childhood educators and special educators we recognize the value of

including young children with disabilities in classrooms with their typical peers. We believe the

benefits for all children are considerable and that children from birth through age eight are at

formative period for getting to know each other.”

The site offers information about best practices for inclusive education programs for

children from birth through age eight. I reviewed the site for approximately two to three hours

and found it very useful. It offers four different languages, but not all features work now. The

site has eight overall features: 1) Why inclusive services? (It offers five topics in support of the

importance of inclusion); 2) Choosing an inclusive program (A list of programs to

evaluate to meet your needs; 3) Method and Practice; 4) Interactive Lessons. (case study and

slide show); 5) Accommodation, Accessibility & Awareness ( testimonial of an individual

teacher’s experience); 6) Downloadable Materials; 7) Link to other sites; 8) Contact info (listing

all who worked in this program and how to contact them.)

The thing I liked most about the website is that it has a link to a real life story called,

“All Children Should Know Joy”. Three examples convey the value of including disabled

children with mainstream kids. The stories are powerful and touching.

I also liked the slide show in feature four--Interactive Lesson. The show gives a picture

of an urban elementary school, which has disabled kids with regular kids in one classroom.

It shows what an inclusive class looks like, how it works, how teachers interact with
disabled kids, and how regular kids interact with disabled kids. It also includes parent

comments. The depiction is vivid, real and makes so much sense.

This site also uses teacher examples to instruct how to promote communication

between disabled and other kids. For example, how to respond to questions from other

children about the children with disabilities. All the examples are from actual, practical

cases. It makes you feel that you are part of their classroom.

After researching this site, I realized why inclusiveness is a sound practice. Most

parents do not have a disable child at home. So they do not understand their needs. We

typically think these kids need “special programs,” or special classes—to be isolated with

other kids with disabilities. But in fact, most disabilities do not represent any cognitive

impairment at all. Some parents may feel uncomfortable with their disable child attending a

program where therapy care is not available; they may fear that their child will be made fun

of, or harmed by other children. Teachers may feel a lack of training to teach kids with

disabilities. So, inclusion represents a kind of revolution in educational theory and

practice. All children should have access to the same quality education. All children should

have relationships with other children. It’s part of the learning process. The benefits of an

inclusive classroom are that children with disabilities are provided opportunities to develop

friendships with peers. The film, “My Left Foot” exemplifies the importance of

inclusiveness and the real advantages to be gained by non-diabled kids. Also, non-disabled

children are provided with opportunities to learn realistic and accurate views of individuals

with disabilities. They are provided opportunities to develop positive attitudes toward

others who are different, which is what maturity is about. They are also provided role

models of those that have successfully faced real life challenges. And finally families with

disabled children feel less isolated from community. Overall, it’s a good web site. I now

have a better understanding and I would definitely encourage others to use this site because

it is useful and easy to understand.